We'll explain what a contract manufacturer is, what to look for when choosing a contract manufacturer, and what the pros and cons are.
What is a contract manufacturer? A definition
A contract manufacturer is usually a manufacturing facility that performs contract manufacturing for customers. The customers provide the required materials and components and the contract manufacturer takes over the production. The finished products are then delivered to the customer.
In many cases, contract manufacturers also take care of product development and raw material purchasing for you. This is referred to as a full-service contract manufacturer.
What are the advantages of contract manufacturers?
A contract manufacturer can have many advantages for you.
For one thing, you don't have to worry about your products not being produced properly. Because with a contract manufacturer, you're in good hands. The employees of the contract manufacturer are experts in their field and know exactly what they are doing.
On the other hand, you can concentrate fully on your core business. Because the contract manufacturer takes over the entire production for you. This allows you to concentrate fully on the further development of your company and on acquiring new customers.
What are the disadvantages of contract manufacturers?
We now have 14 years of experience in awarding contracts to contract manufacturers in the food, dietary supplement and cosmetics sectors. In the process, we have repeatedly made the experience that:
- The search for suitable contract manufacturers is very cumbersome
- Requests and offers take a very long time
- Many product ideas cannot be easily implemented because companies specialize in the manufacture of specific products and have geared their production facilities to them
- The barriers to entry are very high due to high unit numbers
- or the costs per piece are too high for small productions
- Communication is often cumbersome and lengthy.
How does contract manufacturing work?
Contract manufacturing at a contract manufacturer usually proceeds as follows:
- Find suitable contract manufacturer
- Request with your requirements
- Development of your recipe
- Selection of suitable packaging materials
- Packaging design
- Production of your product idea
- Delivery
- Incoming goods inspection
What products can be produced by a contract manufacturer?
Most production facilities specialize in the contract production of
- Food
- Food supplements
- Cosmetics
- Drugs
- Medicine and medical devices
- or products for the pharmaceutical industry
Looking for products or a contract manufacturer for your brand?
We ourselves have built up our own D2C brands in the food, dietary supplement and cosmetics sectors over the past 14 years and have gained a great deal of experience in working with contract manufacturers.
In doing so, we have always asked ourselves:
- How and where do I find the right products for my brand?
- Why is the search for contract filling so costly and complicated?
- Why does communication with contract manufacturers always have to be so cumbersome?
- Why do you have to search for suitable products in catalogs?
- Why is there no complete solution for the topic of product development outsourcing?
That's why we founded KoRo Source in 2022.
We help you to develop new products for your brand.
✓ find
✓ redevelop
✓ to launch
✓ and to scale.
Everything on one platform, with one contact person.
With KoRo Source you get access to:
- 2.500+ product ideas
- 85+ Manufacturers
- 150+ service providers such as product photographers or packaging designers
- 1 Contact person
Register for free, tell us about your idea in a no-obligation video call and off you go!
Contract manufacturer for cosmetics. What do I have to pay attention to?
If you want to have cosmetic products made, there are a few things you should consider.
For one thing, you have to decide on the right type of production. You have the choice between a mass production or a small number of pieces.
Secondly, you should check the quality of the products carefully. Only if the products are high quality, you will have satisfied customers.
Caution: Not every contract manufacturer can process and fill every package on his machine. So clarify this point as early as possible.
It is also important that you find a contract manufacturer that suits you and your company. Only then can you be sure that the cooperation will run smoothly.
Also, make sure your prospective collaborative partner is certified to standards such as:
- GMP
- ISO 22000
- ISO 13485
- FSSC 22000
- HACCP
- or organic
The important thing here is to choose the right active ingredients on the skin for your product.
Important: A so-called safety assessment can help you to place your cosmetic product on the market in a legally secure manner.
Contract food manufacturers. This is how you have food produced:
When looking for a partner for the production of your food or a suitable supplier, you can rely on industry standards and certificates, just as with cosmetics or dietary supplements.
This means that the manufacturer is regularly audited and certified by independent bodies such as TÜV.
Important: A so-called marketability certificate can help you to bring your product legally into the market.
Contract manufacturer for food supplements
Contract manufacturers for dietary supplements usually bring special expertise to the table when it comes to formulation development and dietary supplement regulation. This is because there are a number of things to consider when developing formulations for capsules, powders or tablets with so-called "health claims", for example.
Food supplements require a different production chain and technologies for processing or filling than food or cosmetics.
What is a contract filler?
Contract filler is often used as a synonym for contract manufacturer. However, contract filling usually means the pure filling of the product. In this case, you provide the raw materials and packaging materials.
What is outsourcing?
Outsourcing is the transfer of tasks or services to external service providers. As an outsourcing service provider, the contract manufacturer takes over all steps of production for you.
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